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Earth
Earth (Spanish: la Tierra, Chinese: 地球, Anquanti: Leymka) is the third planet of the Solar System, in the Sol's Umbra Region. It is the Homeworld of the humans, and by a fair margin the most densely populated and wealthiest human world. It is a bustling center of trade and manufacturing and home to numerous interstellar organizations and megacorps. Politically, Earth is not strictly united, and consists of more than a hundred countries which cooperate in various supranational institutions, including the one which governs space exploration, colonization, and administration: the Human Domain, which formed in AD 2215 or Year 1. While the general political climate is one of increasing unity and cooperation, tensions between various countries do exist and occasionally lead to conflicts and political instability. Due to the independent nature of Earth's interstellar enterprise, instability and war on Earth rarely has a significant impact in space, especially as it is usually small-scale in nature. While Earth is homeworld to humanity in general, not all humans (or their cultures) are born on Earth. Those worlds and peoples descended from Earth or its human cultures are known as Earthborne. One does not necessarily have to be born on Earth to be considered such, one only needs to speak a language and belong to a culture that emerged on Earth. However, some human cultures are Starborne, meaning they only appeared after the beginning of interstellar civilization. The most prominent Starborne peoples include asteroid nomads, the Khanten, the Servans, and others. In addition to humans, Desan colonists settled parts of Earth thousands of years ago. Some humans were enslaved, and as a result some humans were in space millenia before. Names Earth is known by many names in Human languages, such as Gaia, Terra, and of course Earth. Of these, Earth became the most common name, even on non-English speaking worlds, and as a result many human trade partners use this name (or something derived from it) as well. For example, in Maghua, Earth is called Uruta. In Anquanti, the language of the ancient Desan city of Anquandisho, the planet is called Leymka, an ancient name with mythological origins. Leymka was the larger of two twins (the smaller being The Moon) connected at the hip, which separated in prehistoric times. As Leymka became the common Desan name for the planet, races influenced or ruled by the Desan call it by similar names. One exception to either rule of thumb is the Ishamshuk Empire, who call it Oltala. History The earliest surviving written records about Earth come from not from humans but from the Desan. Earth, or Leymka, had a role in mythology. Later, it was explored and known to be a place teeming with life - a biosphere that was on the rise rather than decaying like that of Mars. While anatomically modern humans were around at the time of these explorations, they had not yet achieved Behavioral modernity, and did not appear to the Desan to be anything more than an emergent species incapable of interacting to any reasonable extent. The Desan settled outposts on Earth primarily for aquaculture. Given the nature of these outposts no physical evidence of their existence survives into the historical record. The next species to have known about Earth were the Tarak, who supposedly extensively explored the planet in the aftermath of the Siege of Mars to hunt down any possible Desan stragglers. After that, the planet was ignored. With the end of the ice age and subsequent warming of the climate, humans developed agriculture in the Neolithic Revolution and the first civilizations emerged in river valleys, in particular the Nile valley in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, the Indus Valley in Pakistan, and the Yellow River in China. This was not always the case however, as civilization also emerged in the Americas, in the jungles of Mexico and the Andes mountains of Peru. With agriculture came cities, the wheel, a social structure and division of labor, trade, writing (in most cases) and metallurgy (in most cases), among other important developments. Civilizations rose, fell, and changed as time went on. After the Columbian Exchange, the first global era began, in which all civilizations in the world had established direct, sustained contact with each other and traded goods and people. This was followed by the Industrial Revolution, which lead to a population boom as a result of cheaper food (and mechanized agriculture), improved sanitation, and improved medicine. Telecommunications, automobiles, and computers soon followed. During this time, the West became the economic heart of the world and held a dominant position in world politics. Spain was the world's first global empire and arguably superpower, and was soon followed in these regards by the United Kingdom, United States (and the Soviet Union), and eventually (and to this day) China as the West declined. During the second half of the 20th century, humans first began exploring space, in manned missions as well as simple robotic probes. By the second half of the 21st century, primitive colonies had been established on The Moon and eventually Mars. In the early 23rd century, the Warp Drive was developed and humans made their first warp trip to another star system, visiting Alpha Centauri. Tensions over the exploitation of resources in space lead to the Colonial Crisis War, but after several skirmishes on Earth and in space the Treaty of Tokyo was signed between the starfaring nations, gathered in Japan, before things could escalate into full-scale war. The Global Alliance for Space Administration was thus founded in AD 2215. In the intervening years between the 20th and 23rd centuries numerous other important developments took place on Earth. The Internet was created, and lead to a new era of culture, technology, and globalization. The phenomenon of demographic decline in numerous wealthy countries lead to organized responses to the problem on a state and world level. The development of artificial intelligence, the Anthrosons, soon followed. The Spiritual Revolution took place and organized religion became marginalized. Self-aware cities, taken together with all the above, dramatically changed the way people live. The economic heart of the world shifted to China, India, and Africa, the latter of which became home to the world's three largest cities by 2100. Climate change, natural disasters, and outbreaks of disease were a boon to some and devastation to most. As globalization marched on, numerous minority cultures and languages went extinct. When in 2020 there were 6000 languages spoken on Earth, in 2400 there were less than 600. More and more countries of a similar culture group began to confederate or join together, such as the Scandinavian Federation and the Iberian Commonwealth. Government Earth's landmass is split between the territories of dozens of countries, each of which speak at least one of more than 600 languages (a number which used to be larger) and have their own laws and cultural heritage. The world is only loosely governed at the world level by the United Nations. Numerous reforms over the years as well as increasingly urgent responses to climate change, demographic decline, and resource shortages lead to the strengthening of the United Nations and nations coalescing into regional unions (such as the East African Federation and the Andean League) Economy Where in the past, countries varied significantly in wealth and quality of life, today there is somewhat less variance between countries, due to the vast influx of wealth to Earth thanks to interstellar economic interests and the commerce it brings. That said, some areas of the world did not weather the changes mankind experienced as well as others. The climate was changing, technology was advancing, and some countries negotiated the transition better than others. The good As the world warmed and the range of the polar ice caps was reduced, the arctic region experienced an economic boom. Fishing, freight, and mining in previously inaccessible regions (or regions that would be prohibitively expensive for any prospective economic ventures) lead to a surge of population in the north as migrants sought well-paying jobs. Canada, Russia and Scandinavia especially benefited from this. Alaska and Greenland also increased in population, especially in the former case, land grants were issued to encourage emigration. In the south, a similar phenomenon occurred as treaties involving the exploitation of Antarctica were revised and renegotiated in 2048. South Africa, Chile, Argentina and to a lesser extent the Scandinavian Federation, benefited greatly from the Antarctic Boom. While not as important as the boom in the north, the area was important enough to trigger disputes which in some cases lead to small-scale armed conflicts, particularly between Chile and Argentina. By far the biggest benefactor from the Antarctic Boom was Australia, however, which also has the most extensive presence on the continent. The bad Most of the commodity-dependent economies of the Middle East suffered a series of severe recessions once petroleum had been replaced as a fuel. Their vast stockpiles of oil became a niche resource, used in some minor chemical processing industries, and their economies suffered. The biggest exception to this was Oman, whose decades of prioritizing diversification paid off when it continued to grow despite the struggles in the region. Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Venezuela suffered the most as a result of oil losing its value, but other countries like Mexico and Russia also saw minor negative effects. The Caribbean and some regions of the United States suffered severe hurricane seasons as the climate warmed. In the 2050s, as many as 10 Category 2 or higher hurricanes made landfall in the region per year, the most since the 1880s. The constant bombardment stifled development and growth in the area, despite advanced technology to alleviate their effects, as it left little room to recover. The frequent flooding of low-lying areas displaced many people, who overcrowded in the relative safety of higher areas. By 2100 however the environmental phenomenon that caused such active hurricane systems had faded. The VEI7 eruption of the Yellowstone hotspot in the United States lead to economic downturn there in the 2070s as agricultural yield all over the world was reduced in output. Ash rained in neighboring states and the increased albedo of the Earth slowed the arctic and antarctic booms and lead to a stagnant climate for around five years. It was a significant factor in the USA's return to an isolationist foreign policy as the country sought to rebuild from repeated natural disasters in recent decades. Demographics Earth is by far the largest and most diverse human world, as of course it is the ultimate origin of all humans. It is also the best educated and most developed such world, and its population is older on average, with a median age of 47 (most colonies range between 30 and 40). More than 85% of the population live in cities. The largest city is Lagos, in Nigeria. The most populous country is India. Europe, the United States, and East Asia suffered demographic decline, and eventually stagnation, through the 21st century, and their populations' grew older rather than larger. Meanwhile, first India, then Africa and to some extent Latin America, went through periods of immense population growth before also stagnating after some decades. These factors, in combination with the outflow of migrants to space, has left Earth's population not looking too much different from 2020: just over 8 billion people live on Earth, about 40% of all humans under the Domain's jurisdiction and possibly a third of all humans in the Galaxy. Migrants from booming countries made up the difference in declining or stagnating countries, where manpower was in high demand, and as a result the human population is more mixed than ever. By region Africa The second largest continent by land area, and the largest by population, Africa's 40 countries are in the best position they have ever been. China and India's meddling in the politics of the continent came to an abrupt end some time after the Colonial Crisis War, and left to their own devices, Africa's countries, now in command of the largest labor force in total and the large part of the world's most important resources for advanced technology, grew to immense prosperity, powered by a demographic swelling that had long been predicted. However, climate change hit Africa hardest, and the pace of growth has been uneven. While the desperate wars over water in the Nile Basin have long been over, tensions are still high in Northeast Africa, while in the west the Sahelian Union emerges as a foil to the Pax Nigeriana. To the south, the East African Federation and Congo Federation compete in all economic spheres. Category:Planets Category:Featured article